A/RES/54/43 Page 3 5. Encourages relevant international bodies and regional organizations to promote transparency of military expenditures and to enhance complementarity among reporting systems, taking into account the particular characteristics of each region, and to consider the possibility of an exchange of information with the United Nations; 6. Requests the Secretary-General: (a) To continue the practice of sending an annual note verbale to Member States requesting the submission of data to the reporting system, together with the reporting format and related instructions, and to publish in a timely fashion in appropriate United Nations media the due date for transmitting data on military expenditures; (b) To promote international and regional symposia and training seminars to explain the purpose of the United Nations system for the standardized reporting of military expenditures and to give relevant technical instructions; (c) To circulate annually the reports on military expenditures as received from Member States; 7. Also requests the Secretary-General to continue consultations with relevant international bodies, within existing resources, with a view to ascertaining the requirements for adjusting the present instrument to encourage wider participation, with emphasis on examining possibilities for enhancing complementarity among international and regional reporting systems, and to exchange related information with those bodies; 8. Further requests the Secretary-General to make recommendations, based on the outcome of those consultations and taking into account the views of Member States, on necessary changes to the content and structure of the United Nations system for the standardized reporting of military expenditures in order to strengthen and broaden participation, and to submit a report on the subject to the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session; 9. Calls upon all Member States, in time for the deliberation by the General Assembly at its fiftysixth session, to provide the Secretary-General with their views on the analysis and the recommendations contained in his report1 and with further suggestions to strengthen and broaden participation in the United Nations system for the standardized reporting of military expenditures, including necessary changes to its content and structure; 10. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-sixth session the item entitled “Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures”. 69th plenary meeting 1 December 1999